Follow Your Veins
by bmdrwho12
Summary: As the last lock of my brown hair falls to the ground, I take a deep breath and look at my reflection in the mirror. My bald head compleated the sick kid look, paired with sunken cheeks, baggy eyes and a close to anorexic body. "Your in it now Everdeen," I thought to myself. "Now it's true..." -Cancer Story AU/OOC
1. Chapter 1

Follow your veins

**Hi, I'm Bmdrwho12 and this is my first Fanfiction story so please only constructive critisism thank you. This story is a cancer story and please only read this if you are older than 13 because there are lots of cancer and body things and I dont know if kids would want to read it. **

**Summary: Katniss Everdeen. A singer. Youtuber. And now is fighting a different battle, one against her body. Join her as she tries to overcome an adversity that she can't get away from. K/P - A Cancer Story**

**Thankyou!**

**A/N I don't own anything, none of the characters except Dr. Williams.**

**-Bmdrwho12 **

I quickly pressed the small, almost insignificant red button and listened with my musically trained ear for the tell-tale sound that the video camera had started recording. I quickly hurried towards my acoustic guitar and sat down on the bed and introduced the song. "Hi guys, its Kat here from Sydney, Australia. If you don't know me, I own a YouTube account where I sing covers and original songs with my precious guitar, Alicia." I took a deep breath and smiled "Today I will sing Cosmic Love by Florence + the machine, one of my personal favourites."

I opened my mouth and produced the clear opening note of the song, _a falling star fell from your heart, and landed in my eyes, I screamed aloud as it tore through them and now it's left me blind_. I took a deep breath- _the stars, the moon they have all bee_-I quickly cut off as a sharp pain ripped through the right side of my abdomen. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in trying to subdue the pain in my stomach, and then the pain suddenly left, like a wave on the beach. I slowly sat up and shook my head _damn I tore a_ _muscle_ I thought, and then promptly switched off the camera and flopped back on the bed, suddenly exhausted. I tugged a soft blanket over my shoulders and quickly faded into oblivion.

"Katniss, come down here it's dinner time!" said the voice pulling me out of my peaceful slumber, I sat up and ignored the uncomfortable twinge in my side and pulled myself off the bed with the blanket still draped around my shoulders. I let it fall to the ground and I opened my door, padding down the hallway, making sure to keep to the sides to minimise the floor boards creaking, trying not to notify my presence to my family.

I quickly hopped down the stairs, not making a sound and saw my older brother Finnick helping my mother cook dinner his back turned to me. I sneaked behind him and motioned to Prim to keep quiet as she saw what I was planning, and she subtly nodded back making sure not to let her gaze linger on me. This routine was regularly practiced in the Everdeen household as Finnick was very jumpy ever since he saw The Exorcist a few months back, he still hasn't gotten over it.

I lightly trailed my fingers around his torso then squeezed hard; he yelped and jumped spinning around splattering his tanned face with the sauce covered spoon being used for the pasta. I burst out laughing at his reaction and quickly jumped back to avoid his attack, Prim joined in on my growing laughter as Finnick chased my around the kitchen and dining room brandishing the spoon like a weapon. I quickly looked back while running to see a grin spreading on his face, he quickly grabbed my sides with both hands- forgetting the spoon- and squeezing but that motion gave me a shock of pain that radiated down my legs and I let out a yelp.

Finnick immediately stopped and looked at me with concern, "it's okay" I let out quietly letting out a puff of air. "I think I tore a muscle or something singing" I said recovering from the pain. Prim walked up to me and quickly fired out a few questions about the pain turning on medical mode, "What's the pain like? How bad is it? When did it start? She said. "The pain it sometimes like stabby but it also comes in waves"

I replied in a terrible non-medical way of explaining the pain. "The pain is bad but not terrible and it just started today" I said answering her questions, Prim thought for a little bit and called mum where she was seated in the living room reading a book. "Yes Prim?" she answered, "Katniss is getting pain in her abdomen and she said it's quite bad" Prim said, my mother's eyes shifted to me worriedly as she always does when we get unexplainable pain. Ever since my Grandmother died from breast cancer and my father from colon cancer she has been very aware of Prim and me since we apparently have a history of breast cancer on my mother's side.

The doctors only did something her until it was Stage IV and she only had a 13% chance survival rate so she died 4 weeks later at the hospital with my mother beside her and a 2 year-old Prim next to her. My father also died from cancer but of the colon which is the large intestine and they diagnosed him after 2 months of pain and by then he was stage III-C and the cancer was in his body not just his colon. He fought against it but it took him like it did my grandmother, quickly and silently. His death hit my mother hard so she threw herself into her work at the Children's Cancer Hospital Sydney and only came home for dinner but still then she was absorbed in cancer books and new information.

I think it was her way of coping, facing the cancer head on helping the sick children that had fallen into its deadly embrace. "Katniss? Katniss?" My mother called, my head snapped up "What?" I said I must have zoned out thinking about dad. "About the pain does it feel like a muscle tear?" She asked "Well not really" I answered; my mother nodded and grabbed her phone from the kitchen counter. "I'm going to set up a doctor's appointment for you for three days away, when I have a break" She explained then walked off to make the call. Prim, Finnick and I exchanged glanced "Don't you thing she might be overacting a little bit?" I asked them. "Not really, I could be something serious" Prim said, and I nodded reluctantly knowing there's no way to pass it off now.


	2. Chapter 2- The Doctor Appointment

Follow Your Veins – Chapter 2

**Hi, I'm Bmdrwho12 and this is my first Fanfiction story so please only constructive critisism thank you. This story is a cancer story and please only read this if you are older than 13 (and maybe a female) because there are lots of cancer and body things and I dont know if kids would want to read it. **

**Summary: Katniss Everdeen. A singer. Youtuber. And now is fighting a different battle, one against her body. Join her as she tries to overcome an adversity that she can't get away from. K/P - A Cancer Story**

**A/N: I Do Not own The Hunger games or any of the characters except the character of my own imagination **

**Thanks! Please Follow/Fav and review!**

My mother and I sat in the crowded waiting room, her reading another cancer book and me flipping through the latest comments on my videos. I heard my name being called out, the lady's voice cutting through the general chatter of the room; I stood up and tapped my mother on the shoulder and notifying her about the waiting doctor. My mother and I followed her into the room, sitting down on the chair that the doctor motioned towards, and my mother sat in the chair next to me. I quickly gazed around the pale room, it is a small room with a bed and curtain surrounding it, there was also various awards for doctor things and a table with a microscope and other miscellaneous equipment.

"Katniss, my name is Doctor Williams, a friend of your mothers" she said "Now what is this pain that you're having…." She asked me the routine questions, how are your bowl movements? Do you have any other symptoms? What is the worst pain on a scale of 1-10? I answered in simple word answers like Okay, and Fine but when she asked about other symptoms it got me thinking about the last few weeks, how I have been more tired but can't really sleep and how I haven't had much of an appetite lately so I told her about that.

Then she asked about the really awkward questions that no female teenage can answer without either cracking up or hesitating a bit, and I did a bit of both. When she asked about those female reproduction questions, I looked at the doctor and thinking in my head oh no and hesitated but my mother urged me to answer and then when I answered I let out a weird snort/laugh and shook my head slowly from side to side. Then after that awkwardness she ordered me onto the bed and exposed my stomach, and then she said that she was going to feel around my stomach and to tell me if I felt any pain. Dr. Williams then pressed around my abdominal area checking for any abnormalities, asking every once and a while if there was any pain.

Then when she pressed on the right side near my hip I felt that same sharp pain again and sucked in a loud breath and winced, which the doctor noticed. She let me get back up and told me if I was still experiencing pain come back and she'll set me up for an ultrasound, then she let us leave and to call her if anything changes.

After a week of pain, and probably a mound of painkillers my mother talked to Dr. Williams again and she set up an ultrasound for the next day at the local Connect scanning place that specializes in ultrasounds and CT scans. I quickly got up the next morning and threw on a dark green shirt and leggings knowing that I need stretchy clothes for the ultrasound.

I went to the bathroom and noticed that Finnick got in there first judging by the off tune singing emerging from door; it was always a constant battle on who got to the bathroom first between the three of us. "Finnick still in there?" Prim asked, while walking past me and heading down stairs. "Of course" I answered, and then I banged on the door shouting "FINNICK GET OUT OF THERE! I HAVE TO GO!" now frustrated with him. I was just about to barge in there when Finnick stepped out of the bathroom, "Where are you going Kat?" he asked. "I have my ultrasound and I have to drink 1L of water an hour before it" I said.

His face then changed from his almost ever-present cheeky smile to being guilty and a little sad, "Oh Kat I hope it goes ok" he said. "I'll be fine" I answered and pushed past him into the bathroom. I looked at myself in front of the long horizontal mirror that stretched over the whole upper wall, and looked at my reflection and noticed that I really have changed in the past few weeks.

My once full cheeks have sunken a little from my loss of appetite and now the recently acquired symptom, nausea. My olive skin has now settled for a little paler complexion because of the lack of sun and there are deep purple bags underneath my plain grey eyes. I then lifted up my shirt and felt lightly around where the pain is and noticed that the right side felt a little more pronounced that the left but I decided to ignore it, since worrying about it won't change anything. I quickly brushed my hair, washed my face then ran downstairs for a small breakfast since I would have to fill up on water anyway

. Then I brushed my teeth and my mother set a 1 Liter water bottle filled to the brim ready for me to swallow down. I sat on the couch and turned on the TV and took large gulps of the water, quickly filling up. Apparently drinking the water expands your bladder and gives the ultrasound lady a better picture to look at, as the machine produces sound waves that bounces off the organs in my body. I am having a pelvic/abdominal ultrasound where they look at everything, the liver, kidneys, gall bladder and also my reproductive organs like the ovaries. After I had finished the water and my bladder was beginning to get uncomfortable my mother came in and said it was time to go, so we got in the car and drove to Connect. My mother parked the car and then turned to me "Whatever they say it will all be ok" she smiled and smoothed down my braid "You look so much like your father" She said fondly. Then she quickly got out of the car, leaving me alone like she always does.


	3. Chapter 3- The Ultrasound

Follow Your Veins – Chapter 3

**Hi, I'm Bmdrwho12 and this is my first Fanfiction story so please only constructive critisism thank you. This story is a cancer story and please only read this if you are older than 13 (and maybe a female) because there are lots of cancer and body things and I dont know if kids would want to read it. **

**Summary: Katniss Everdeen. A singer. Youtuber. And now is fighting a different battle, one against her body. Join her as she tries to overcome an adversity that she can't get away from. K/P - A Cancer Story**

**A/N: I Do Not own The Hunger games or any of the characters except the character of my own imagination **

**Thanks! Please Follow/Fav and review!**

I stepped into the ultrasound clinic and found my mother sitting in a chair near the door reading a magazine about some crazy celebrity that did something bad. We waited for a while until I felt like my bladder was going to rupture then finally my name was called and an ultrasound lady led my mother and me through a series of corridors with rooms that had different types of machinery in them. We stepped into an almost empty room, the only things there were a bed and the ultrasound machine that projected the image into a screen.

The lady told me to lie down and pull up my shirt and when I did so, she squirted cold gel onto my stomach and pressed a short, thick plastic wand with a rounded curve at the end to my stomach. She moved the wand around to my stomach area where my bladder was to check if it was full and when she saw that it was, she continued with the ultrasound. She moved the wand up near my gall bladder first then switched sides near my spleen and took screenshots of the all the organs. She looked at my kidneys then moved down where I got the pain, and looked for my appendix because my mother suspected that it might be that. But the ultrasound lady said she couldn't see it so she moved on and looked at my female reproductive organs, but turned the screen away when she saw me watching as if she thought I could actually understand what was on the screen.

I watched the lady's face instead and I then saw her eyebrows pull together in a confused expression, she paused and then said "Hold on I just have to ask the head ultrasound technician here about something". Then she quickly wiped off the goo and left the room. "What was that about?" I asked mum, "I don't know she may have trouble reading the picture" She answered but I could tell she was hiding something. The technician came back into the room with the head ultrasound lady and they both looked at whatever organ they were pointing the wand at. They then pulled out a keyboard and took some more screen shots and talked quietly for a few seconds then the head technician stood up and left the room. My mother and I exchanged confused glances and then the ultrasound lady stood up and asked us to wait outside but not before saying I could go to the bathroom. Hurray! Finally! After drinking a liter of water and keeping it in without peeing is really hard!

"Miss Everdeen?" the receptionist asked, we stood up in the waiting room and walked to the desk, "Your ultrasound pictures are here" she said and mum took the folder from her and gave it to me to hold. While they sorted out the payment details I walked out of the clinic towards the car and leaned against the car window, grimacing in pain. Even though I have had the pain for a while I'm still not used to the unexpected random jolts that I get. My mother strides out of the clinic and heads for the car, giving me a tight-lipped sympathetic smile and swiftly opens the door and turns on the engine. I get in the car too, putting the ultrasound pictures in the backseat and then turn to confront my mum. "What was that about!?" I demanded getting a little angry because no one was telling me anything "I don't know what you're talking about" My mother said in a calm voice. "You know what I mean! What is going on! I have a right to know!" I shouted now furious. "You have a temper just like your father's" she said quietly and then took a deep breath. "They- there is an abdominal mass on your right ovary Katniss, and you have to go for a CT scan in the next 4 days" she explained. "It is 4.5 cm big and it's growing, the CT scan can confirm its composition" she said. I took a deep breath and thought about what she said, so a have a weird mass in my ovary, it's big and growing ok… it's good that I know. "Mother, what are we going to do about it?" I asked, "Well we can let it sit there and see if it leaves by itself because it can or we go for surgery but I don't think we should do that and only do that option as a last resort" she said. I stayed silent and pressed my forehead against the cold window.

**Hi just to let everyone know all the ultrasound and CT scan and Dr. appointments are all true and are sort of based on my own experiences with an abdominal mass like that. But the Katniss's experiences are a little different and more dramatic and worse than my own experience. But all the info I think is correct! **

**Thanks!**


	4. Chapter 4- The CT scan

Follow Your Veins – Chapter 4

**Hi, I'm Bmdrwho12 and this is my first Fanfiction story so please only constructive critisism thank you. This story is a cancer story and please only read this if you are older than 13 (and maybe a female) because there are lots of cancer and body things and I dont know if kids would want to read it. **

**Summary: Katniss Everdeen. A singer. Youtuber. And now is fighting a different battle, one against her body. Join her as she tries to overcome an adversity that she can't get away from. K/P - A Cancer Story**

**A/N: I Do Not own The Hunger games or any of the characters except the character of my own imagination **

**Thanks! Please Follow/Fav and review! I hope to continue this story but if no one is reviewing or follow/fav then I might stop it.**

I sat in the waiting room at Connect again 3 days later, next to my mother, for the CT scan. I quickly whipped out my phone and texted Prim **Katniss: Hey Prim what are you doing? **_Prim: Nothing just studying, when's your CT scan?_ **Katniss: Soon I think, I have to go now a doctor lady is coming over now.**_ Prim: Ok bye! Hope it goes well__._ I looked up from my phone to see the doctor handing my mother a bottle and a plastic cup and said drink it every 15 minutes. "Katniss you have to drink this liquid for the CT scan, it tastes a little gross but it's fine, and you have to drink it in 15 minute intervals"

My mother said pouring about ¼ of the thick white liquid into the cup. She then gave it to me and told me to drink it in 5 minutes, so I took a sip and gagged, it tasted like gross milk and looked like it too but there was also a little taste of artificial oranges in it. And to top it off the liquid was so thick you could barely swallow it. And in the next 1 hour I drank to whole bottle resisting the urge to spit it out every time I sipped it. After the bottle was empty I had to wait a little while longer while it passed to my stomach and it would take effect. The CT professional then called my name and asked us to come with her.

She led me to a large room with a window that viewed another room that had the CT scanner inside it. She told me to take off any jewellery or metal objects and then opened the door and told me to lie down on the bed and do what the machine tells me to do. When I did the machine started whirring and the bed moved towards a large doughnut shaped machine, as the bed moved closer a computerised voice said 'Breathe' wait what? Am I supposed to breathe now? Then a few seconds later the voice said 'hold' so I held my breath as I went into the middle of the doughnut, the scanner taking pictures of my organs and that stupid 'abdominal mass'. For the past few days nobody really explained what an 'abdominal mass' was, so I used the ever-present Google, to find out what it was.

Apparently it is a large accumulation of stuff and depending on the composition it can be either liquid (ew) or solid (even more gross) or a mixture of both of them. They can even have hair or teeth inside of them! An abdominal mass can either mean a cyst or tumour but it's very unlikely that the thing that I have is cancerous because ovarian cancer usually affects females over 50.

My mother didn't want me researching about it because she thinks the more I find out about it the worse it will get, if that makes sense. The bed went into the doughnut one more time and the voice instructed me to hold my breath again, for about 30 seconds. The whirring stoped and the bed came to a standstill; I sat up and saw my mother talking to that CT lady, I couldn't hear anything though, I think the glass was sound proof. I don't know why the doctors wouldn't want me to hear though.

The lady motioned for me to leave the room and gave me back my metal bracelet and told us to wait for the pictures to print. We sat in the waiting room and went through the whole process again, mum getting the pictures and me confronting her but this time she didn't tell me about it. She said we have to get a professional to read it apparently.

A few days later I thought the pain was getting less frequent and it might be leaving so I told my mother about it. "Mother the pain is a little less frequent now; do you think it's leaving?" I asked, my mother pursed her lips "Maybe well have to wait and see" she said and left it at that. As I got ready for bed and lied down I felt this weird pressure in my pelvis but just left it and took a Panadol hoping it would leave and help me sleep.

But when I woke up at around 3 in the morning I knew something wasn't right, my body was shaking and I was shivery and cold but my head felt boiling. I sat up and half crawled to my mother's room because of the pain in my abdomen. I stood up and opened the door half leaning on the frame. "Mum something's wrong" I said when she woke up. "It really hurts" I croaked out and took a step towards her but as I did a wave of dizziness came over me and I collapsed to the floor like a pile of bones.


	5. Chapter 5- The Hospital

Follow Your Veins – Chapter 5

**Hi, I'm Bmdrwho12 and this is my first Fanfiction story so please only constructive critisism thank you. This story is a cancer story and please only read this if you are older than 13 (and maybe a female) because there are lots of cancer and body things and I dont know if kids would want to read it. **

**Summary: Katniss Everdeen. A singer. Youtuber. And now is fighting a different battle, one against her body. Join her as she tries to overcome an adversity that she can't get away from. K/P - A Cancer Story**

**A/N: I Do Not own The Hunger games or any of the characters except the character of my own imagination **

**Thanks! Please Follow/Fav and review!**

I slowly rise out of unconsciousness by a hand running its fingers through my hair, my head on a person's lap. I open my eyes then immediately close them because of the bright lights burning through my retinas. I become aware that I am in my car because of the smell of leather and my askew vision of the sky thats moving. I turn my head to face Prim who is now looking at me with concerned eyes, "Are you alright" Prim asked, I was about to answer when I quickly turn my head away and vomit over the car floor. "Mum!" Prim shouted to her, "What Prim?" My mother answered not taking her eyes off the road.

"Katniss just vomited up blood" Prim said her voice wavering. "Wha-What?" I asked and looked down, and sure enough, just as Prim said there was blood over the car floor. I swallowed trying to get rid of the horrible taste in my mouth, "Prim, do you have any water?" I asked weakly. "No I'm sorry Katniss but hold on we're going to the hospital" Prim said, I nodded slowly and then focused on the front of the car. Finnick was in the passenger seat, staring straight ahead, his knuckles white and clenched against the armrest. "Finnick?" I asked, he heard my voice and turned around, forcing a smile.

"What is it Kat?" he asked his smile wavering, "Can you hold my hand?" I asked stretching my chapped lips into a small smile. As an answer he reached towards me and grabbed my pale shaky hand giving it a soft squeeze. "Almost there Kat" he said as we reached the emergency area. My mother pulled in, jumped out and ran to the passenger door, pulling it open and calling for a doctor. When no one answered she ran inside the hospital and talked angrily to the emergency staff, who then grabbed a stretcher and ran towards our car.

They carefully lifted me onto the stretcher and wheeled me up towards the hospital, mum running beside me. She shouted for Finnick and told him to park the car and take care of Prim then find us in the hospital. I could see my mother's face hovering over mine and holding my hand as I was rushed through the hospital, I looked around at all the faces as they whizzed passed me.

Most of them nurses and doctors heading to their own patients, but a few were just people who have come in for whatever reason and when they looked at me their facial expression were either horrified or sympathetic. I probably looked like hell, my pale face stained with blood and the deep dark bags under my eyes and almost anorexic face and body. I turned my head and focused on the painfully fluorescent lights placed on the roof, I blinked and saw them fuzz and change to look like bright stars. "Beautiful" I whispered to the lights, and broke into a smile when they changed colours, from white to blue. I giggled and told mum, "Hey mum the lights like me" I said, "They're changing colours for me" I giggled again.

"She's hallucinating" my mother shouted at the doctors who then pushed me through the double doors towards the children's ICU ward. I knew this because when I brought Prim to visit her she would usually be here, so now I know the hospital practically like the back of my hand. My vision then started fading and I fought to catch my breath as all the air almost magically flew out of my lungs. Then like in those movies, the world then faded to echo's and everything disappeared.

I woke up to the sound of wailing, which is a sound that I have come to recognise a lot when I go to see mum, it's the sound of someone dying. Whenever the noise comes you know that the person's life has almost faded and the doctors will come rushing in trying to revive the lost soul. I opened my eyes and saw my family in the room with me, Finnick his head in his hands, Prim sleeping on the extra bed to the side and my mother talking softly to doctor, which I assume was my doctor.

"Mum?" I asked her, she turned to me and sat down on the edge of the bed after ending the conversation with the doctor who now watched me in the back ground. "Hi sweetie" she said smiling softly, I hadn't allowed her to call me that since she basically left us but I was too tired and weak to tell her off. "What's happening?" I asked, "Well, the mass that you had, it grew very big so it pressed against your other organs and covered the other cyst that you had on the left ovary, which ruptured and caused your fever, vomiting and extreme pain.

The mass that you had of the right ovary has now been measured from the pictures on the CT scan and it is now 6.5cm and I just had a talk with the doctor and he said we should take it out using laparotomy and there's a 1 in 10 chance that it's cancerous " She explained. "Um- What's laparotomy?" I asked "They make an incision in the abdomen to either inspect or take out the abdominal mass in your ovary". "So when am I going to have it?" I asked, "In about 4 hours" my mother replied using a calm voice "Four hours! But I just got here!" I burst out. "No sweetie you've been out for four days" She said softly, "We haven't left your side" my mother said. "Thankyou" I replied my eyes closing, "Sleep honey and when you wake up it will be all over" She whispered as I faded into the darkness again.

**Sorry it's short I'll try and post a longer one soon hopefull tomorrow or the next day!**

**Thanks for reading please fav/follow or review!**

**-Bmdrwho12**


	6. Chapter 6- The Diagnosis and The Boy

Follow Your Veins- Chapter 6

**Hi, I'm Bmdrwho12 and this is my first Fanfiction story so please only constructive critisism thank you. This story is a cancer story and please only read this if you are older than 13 (and maybe a female) because there are lots of cancer and body things and I dont know if kids would want to read it. **

**Everyone who read this, this it it! Katniss' diagnosis! How exciting and we also get to meet Peeta! Hurray! :D**

**A/N: I Do Not own The Hunger games or any of the characters except the character of my own imagination. **

**Thanks! Please Follow/Fav and review!**

I wake up to the sound of soft weeping coming from somewhere in the room. I open my eyes to see my mother in the corner, sitting in a plain hospital chair, her blonde hair bundled up in a messy bun at the top of her head. "Mum?" I asked and her head snapped up, revealing her puffy red eyes and nose. "What sweetie are you in pain?" She asked her pure blue eyes worried.

"No it's just-"I shifted my position but then froze when a sharp jolt of pain and a tugging sensation went through my abdomen. "Don't move sweetie you can pull your stiches out it's only been a few hours" she said and I nodded in reply, "Why were you crying?" I asked slowly still recovering from the anaesthetic. "Oh, it's nothing but I'll tell you later because I have to get your sister and brother from the house" she explained. "Ok" I said and then she walked out of the door. I yawned and closed my eyes trying to sleep. "Oh and press the medicine button if you're in pain or the call button" My mother added poking her head in the room. But by the time she left I was already half asleep.

I opened my eyes to find Prim's beaming face over mine, "Prim!" I reached up and hugged her ignoring the tug of the stiches, then pulled back and framed her face with my hands and kissing her head. She then climbed on my bed and lied down next to me even though it wasn't allowed. I tickled Prim's feet under the covers then smiled when she giggled. I stopped and looked at Finnick who was standing in the door way of the room, looking at us with loving eyes. "Finnick come here" I ordered him and he walked slowly towards us and sat in the chair next to the bed. He grabbed my hand with both of his and kissed it softly, I know it was a weird exchange for brothers and sisters but that was who Finnick was.

I looked out the open door and saw a flash of blue and blonde in the hallway but before I could really focus on it, the person was gone. I looked down a bit confused at why someone would be spying on us but abandoned that thought when I saw tears streaming down his face and dripping onto my hand. I turned to face him and asked what was wrong; he answered in a pained voice completely unlike his own "I thought you were going to die". He looked at me with red eyes, pain and grief filling his expression. "Finnick is there something I don't know?" I asked confused on why he would be so sad after an operation.

"I can't tell you" he said in a broken voice, "Since when did Finnick follow the rules" I said and smiled. "I'm sorry Katniss- I-just can't" he said not even smiling, and I immediately felt that this was serious. "Finnick can you get mum? I need to ask her something" I said, and he immediately complied and took Prim with him much to my disappointment. I really just wanted someone to be happy around me and not be sympathetic or sad when they see me. I saw my mother and a doctor come into the room with a clip board and a stethoscope.

My mother sat on the edge of the bed and the doctor in the chair next to me. "Hello Katniss my name is Cinna, I don't use my doctorate name because it makes people more at ease, before you ask" He said giving me a genuine smile which did in fact put me at ease. "Hi Cinna, what's going on?" I asked. "Well Katniss when we removed the mass on your ovary we took as piece for testing to see if it was cancerous and sadly it was". He paused and then continued with his diagnosis. "You have stage IIC Ovarian cancer; I won't confuse you with all the medical mumbo jumbo but basically the cancer has spread from your right ovary to the fallopian tube and also in the tissue of the pelvis and there are also cancer cells present in the fluid of your abdomen" he said sadly.

"We are going to do a process called debulking where we take out all the cancer cells that we can see and hopefully we get it all, but since the cancer cells in the fluid of your stomach are so small we will have to do chemotherapy." Cinna said and then continued. "We will do the debulking in two days and then after you have healed we will start the chemo to get rid of the rest of the cancer and hopefully it will put you into remission" He explained. My mother gave him a smile and he left the room telling me that he would come back later to check on me. Mum turned to me and took my hand in hers just as Finnick did, and I asked her something.

"Mother what chance do I have?" I asked, "Well honey we can put an exact number on it-"she said, I quickly grew frustrated and just burst out "Just tell me!". "This is not definite considering your age but about 57%" she said. 57%...chance of living. "Does Prim know?" I asked her, "I just told her a few minutes ago and she and Finnick left the hospital to go home" she said. "Mother, can I please have sometime alone? To think about things?" I asked, and she immediately complied but not before giving me a kiss on the head. Cancer, wow that was unexpected I thought.

Then suddenly the dullness of the room and the confined space made me sick; I then proceeded to sit up carefully and slowly get out of the hospital bed, being careful not to pull the stiches. I stood up and then walked across the room and saw a wheelchair hiding in the corner and sat down heavily as the walk made the already aching stiches hurt even more. I pushed the wheels with both arms and manoeuvred it through the door and into the hallway; I looked both ways to see if my mother or Cinna was still around and thankfully they weren't.

I quickly wheeled down the hallway avoiding patients and hospital staff, most of them giving me suspicious looks. I follow the signs to find the Cancer ward part of the hospital as my mind was still a bit foggy from the drugs, so I couldn't remember where it was specifically. I wheeled down the bright hallway as if I had stepped into a party zone; there were colours and paintings on the walls which was a complete contrast to the dull white walls of the other part of the hospital. I stopped in front of a wall and looked at the encouragement's written on it, they were really cheesy sayings like _don't give up _and _keep strong it's almost over_ but I guess they might cheer up some kids.

I continued to wheel down the cheesy hallway, being extra careful as mum or Cinna would probably be around doing doctor stuff. And just as I thought that I heard my mother's voice shout from down a hallway "How could she be gone?" So I quickly turned down another hallway where there were a lot of rooms, some of the doors open. I wheeled past them, looking through the doors trying to find another hallway as this one seemed to be a dead end.

I neared the end of the hallway and turned back ready to face the wrath of the doctors plus my mother. "Hey! Girl in the wheelchair!" a voice shouted, I looked around for the source and saw a boy about my age with bright blue eyes inside one of the rooms, grinning at me as if I was the funniest thing in the world. "What?" I said scowling at him, but he just shook his head, laughing, his blonde hair shaking.

I wheeled partially inside his room and said "Why are you laughing?" I asked angrily. "Well it was funny because you had this scared-slash-creeped out look on your face and it was just really weird to see someone's expression look that emotive here "the boy said. He then stopped laughing and looked at me, "Are you lost? You don't look like a local patient at the daily death centre of happiness" he said. "Well what do they look like then?" I said crossing my arms.

"Well the usual, sunken cheeks, deathly pale skin, bruises and usually a bald head" he said smiling slightly. "So my sunken cheeks and paled skin don't fit the criteria?" I asked glaring at him. "Well not really you don't look sick enough to be in the cancer ward" the boy said. "Just because I haven't had some exotically named drugs pumped into my system doesn't mean I'm not sick or have been through pain" I said, my expression changing to one of pain.

"True, true" he said agreeing with me, his smile fading. "You don't look really sick either" I said, he hesitated then as an answer climbed out the bed and took off the blanket wrapped around his torso. I looked down and saw where his right leg should be but there was nothing, it was cut off just above the knee. I looked up with sympathetic eyes and a sad smile; he just shrugged and reached his hand down for me to shake. I took his hand and shook it firmly, "Peeta Mellark- Ewing's Sarcoma" he said with a smile. "Katniss Everdeen and I'm not telling you about my condition yet" I said because I didn't feel comfortable telling a stranger about my cancerous reproductive organs. "Yet? Are we going to see each other again?" he said smiling mischievously, "Don't get your hopes up Mellark" I said. He opened his mouth to say something but I heard my name being shouted from somewhere

"Crap" I whispered, "What's wrong?" Peeta said. "Well I kind of snuck out my room and I just had surgery a couple of hours ago" I answered reluctantly, "What? Why would you do that Katniss?" He said angrily. I took a deep breath and answered "Do you know the feeling where everyone is so sympathetic for you, and they are crying so much but you just want to tell them, hey I'm the one who has the problem I should be the one crying, but you have to be strong for them instead" I said and Peeta nodded in agreement. "

Well that's what I felt like in my room, everyone was crying and I just had to get out of there". "I get what you mean" Peeta said, "When I was diagnosed everyone was crying but I wasn't and it was like you said I had to be the strong one" He said. I heard my name being called out again and said "I have to go now, everyone probably thinks I have run away" I said with a dry laugh. "Ok Katniss see you later" Peeta said with a smile, "Bye Peeta" I said and wheeled down the hallway ready to face whatever punishment will come.

**Hurray! We met Peeta! He will be a big part in the story, as you may know be the pairing! And also alot of new charater will be introduced over the next few chapters! Please review because it keeps me writing, just a few words would be great! :D**

**Thankyou**


	7. Chapter 7- The Fight

Follow Your Veins- Chapter 7

**Hi, I'm Bmdrwho12 and this is my first Fanfiction story so please only constructive critisism thank you.**

**Summary: Katniss Everdeen. A singer. Youtuber. And now is fighting a different battle, one against her body. Join her as she tries to overcome an adversity that she can't get away from. K/P - A Cancer Story**

**A/N 1: Hurray! Chapter 7! And thankyou for the lovley reviews and for the people who have followed and favourited this story it makes my day :)**

**A/N 2: I Do Not own The Hunger games or any of the characters except the character of my own imagination**

**Thanks! Please Follow/Fav and review!**

I quickly wheeled down the white hallways already saddened by the loss of the recently dubbed 'cheesy hallways' colourful encouragements. I hear my name being called again but by Cinna, from a little way away.

I wheeling down the hallway as quickly as I can without injuring myself, turning around the corner to where my room is. I pick up speed as I get closer and closer to my room my arms aching almost_ there, maybe if I just lie there and pretend that it never happened they might believe it somehow_ I thought. As I get closer I count the doors left until mine, _5, 4, 3, 2-_ "Hey!" A voice shouted, I slowly and carefully stopped in front of my door and turn to see Finnick running towards me, an angry look on his face. "What?" I said innocently trying to play it off. "Where were you? We've been looking for you for ages!" he burst out. I opened my mouth to reply but he cut me off continuing with his rant, "You could have pulled your stiches out! Or had an accident!" he shouted his voice rising by the minute. "There are doctors and nurses everywhere! If I did have an accident they would have helped me anyway! It wasn't like I went far!" I shouted. By then some patients poked their head out of their doors looking and us strangely but Finnick just ignored them.

"Why did you do that?" Finnick shouted at me, his face getting red. "I have 57% chance of living! 57%! I could easily die so I should do things like meet boys and run away while I'm partially healthy!" I burst out practically lying about all that stuff since Finnick would never understand what I was feeling. I heard a wheel chair coming down the hallway and look towards the sound, seeing Peeta in the chair, looking at me with a smile on his face. I automatically smiled back at him, but Finnick seeing this exchange turned on Peeta. "What the hell! You lead her out just after surgery and take her around the hospital for a date?" He shouted at him. "She has cancer! Cancer! You idiot not some flu!" He burst out angrily.

"Finnick!" I shouted at him making his turned around and look at me. "It's my business about what I do with my life and you can never control it not now and never again, especially not now" I said seething. I looked at Peeta and he gave me a soft sad smile then mouthed 'see you later' and wheeled down the hall. I whipped around to face Finnick, a scowl present on my face. "Finnick, Peeta has cancer too, so you don't need to go off on him about the 'dangers'. And he didn't take me out, I chose to leave! And I don't need protecting!" I shouted back at him. Then as quickly as I could turned the wheelchair around and went into my room. I then grabbed the door and slammed it, turning to lock and blocking out the world.

I heard the clicking and turning of the lock and the door opening, and looked up to see Cinna come in with a smile on his face. "How did you get in here!" I questioned him. "Years of practice and a steady hand" He said with a smile. Cinna sat down on the edge of the bed, and took out a pen "So I heard you had a little escape" he said still smiling. "Yeah" I said looking down. "And then when I came back Finnick found me, shouted at me, then Peeta came down the hall and he did the same to him!" I exclaimed. "Peeta..."he said nodding "He's a good kid, always has a smile on his face" Cinna said. "How's your pain, one to ten?" he asked. "Umm... six" I answered, and then Cinna stood up and leaned over fiddling with some buttons before turning and saying to me "Now no more escapes, you gave your family a terrible scare" He said. Cinna then closed the door letting me get some sleep.

I woke up to the sound of a door creaking open, I looked up to see Prim walking into the room, a bright smile on her face. "Katniss!" she exclaimed, and ran to the bed and lying next to me like before. "Little Duck" I said and kissed her head, she then looked up at me and studied my face. "Katniss" she whispered then tightly hugged me, her tears soaking the hospital gown. "Prim, its ok" I said to her and she looked up, her eyes rimmed with red. I wiped her tears and smiled softly at her, then enveloped Prim's small body in a hug.

I looked up to see my mother gazing at us; she then noticed me looking and motioned for Prim to go outside. She then reluctantly did and my mother closed the door behind her. "Katniss when you did the operation, the doctor left your left ovary alone since it didn't show any evidence of cancer and you would be able to have children in the future." She said and I nodded, confused since I already knew this. "Well what we didn't tell you is that chemotherapy most likely will damage your remaining ovary, so you wouldn't be able have children anyway" She explained. I opened my mouth to say something but she held up her hand, stopping my protests.

"I looked into a few things while you were unconscious and a fertility doctor said he could take some eggs out and freeze them so you can have children later in life" She said then continued. "And while you were in the operation, he did just that and so your eggs are frozen! And you can have children!" She beamed apparently happy. I frown formed on my face, "Why didn't you tell me? Don't you need patient consent or something?" I asked, a little irritated that they made a decision about my body without telling me. "Not really as long as the parent signs the appropriate forms then it's all fine" She said. I then heard someone calling her name and the little message thing attached to her belt pinged, as someone needed her help. "I have to go honey but I will come back later and we'll talk" She said to me then hurried down the hall, her footsteps echoing in my ears like climatic drum beats.

**A/N: Hi reader just letting you know that my posting of chapter may come less frequently from now on, because of school and some medical condition I have (nobody knows what it is but they have some guesses) so sorry about that but ill try to post as soon as I can!**

**Thanks! Please fav/follow or review!**

**~Bmdrwho12**


	8. Chapter 8- Before the surgery

Follow Your Veins- Chapter 8

**Hi, I'm Bmdrwho12 and this is my first Fanfiction story and please only constructive critisism thank you.**

**A/N: I Do Not own The Hunger games or any of the characters except the character of my own imagination**

**A/N.2: On the 8th chapter hurray! Now it starts to get interesting... :)**

**Thanks! Please Follow/Fav and review!**

I booted up my laptop and rested it on my lap, shifting because of the uncomfortable frame of the wheelchair. I log in, and then turn on the Wi-Fi looking for the modem that says _Children's Hospital_ and type in the password that is on the wall in bright, clear letters. I sit in the waiting room, next to my sister who is reading this month's issue of Vouge, ready to plug in my camera to upload a video to my YouTube channel. I decided to post a video about my cancer since people have been asking when I'm going to post another song.

Prim held the camera (since I'm still avoiding Finnick) and I said that I won't be posting video's for a while because of the cancer but I will keep my channel open so people can still watch my videos (of course). I looked at the screen and saw that the Wi-Fi has connected and my camera has been recognised by the computer. I then logged into YouTube and clicked upload. As I waited for the video to upload, I quickly did a Google search on Ewing's Sarcoma, the cancer that Peeta has. I looked at the webpages that came up on the browser, and clicked on one that had National Cancer because Wikipedia is too unreliable and is full of crazy information and usually full of Doctor Who references. I even know someone who spents hours editing Wikipedia pages and putting in science-fiction movie and TV show quotes.

The treatment for Ewing's Sarcoma was surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, and there are also a lot of cancer treatment trials that you can do. The website also said overall survival rate for Ewing's Sarcoma sufferers is somewhere between 60 and 70%, but it also depends on the patients heath and age. So it seems that Peeta will make it out of this place with a lot of certainty, but for me it's basically 50/50 and everyone (my family and the doctors) are just hoping it hasn't spread.

I scrolled down the page but before I could finish it, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turn around to see Peeta grinning at me, "If you wanted to know about it you could have just asked me" He said gesturing to the laptop.

I blushed a little and looked down _D__id I just blush? What the hell! I never blush!_ I thought to myself. I opened my mouth to apologise but Prim then jumped in, smiling mischievously. "Hi what's your name?" she asked excitedly, "I'm Peeta Mellark" he answered his smile matching Prim's. "Hey Prim, do you want to go for a walk to the playground?" he asked her, Prim thought from a moment then answered. "Ok but we have to ask Katniss first" she said, Prim then turned to me putting on her big doe-eyes. I sighed then answered "Fine but don't take long I have surgery in a few hours" I said and gave them a soft smile. "Hurray!" Prim shouted loudly earning a few shushes from fellow patients, and she quickly jumped up and walked down the hall. "Come on Peeta" she said, he then said bye to me and limped as quickly as he could with crutches.

I watched them walk down the hallway Prim gesturing excitedly, wondering what they were talking about_ probably me that's what everyone seems to do these days or maybe that stupid cat_ Buttercup,_ she's obsessed with him_. I then turned to my laptop to see if the video had loaded, and happily it did so I typed in the videos name 'Important please watch!' and hopefully people would watch it.

And not send me irritated/annoyed messages saying 'when are you updating? It's been FOREVER' and my personal favourite 'You slacker you haven't posted a video in weeks what are you doing with your life?'. The video then spread itself around the internet, popping up on people's YouTube accounts notifying itself, spreading my _'terrible demise'_ to the online community (a doctor actually said that to me). I watched the screen as all the stupid, sympathetic comments rolled in like waves, things like 'praying for you love' and 'so young, hope you pull through' they made me sick.

They don't actually know what I'm going through, I didn't tell them about what type of cancer it is and that stupid survival rate hanging over my head. Then suddenly I could feel the prick of tears and a lump in my throat. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath _Come on Everdeen break down somewhere else, where no one can see you_. I then shut down my laptop and stored it away in the back of the wheelchair; I then hurriedly wheeled out of the waiting room and down the hall to my room and slammed to door behind me.

I lay on my bed curling my arms around my torso digging into the hospital gown and muffling my sobs on the pillow. This will be the only time I allow myself to cry about my cancer, my cries then turn louder and the sobs wrack my body, turning my breaths into irregular pants. I hear then a knock on the door but I shouted at it hoping that the person would leave, but then I hear the door opening then closing shut.

Ignoring the person/s in the room, I turn my back and pull my pillow towards me and hug it to my stomach. I feel an arm reach around me and pull me to the person's chest; I look up with bleary eyes to see Peeta holding me tightly. I feel another person hug my from behind and I turn to see Prim leaning her head on my back, holding back tears. I tentatively return Peeta's embrace, and then I finally let go, releasing years of held back sobs. I cry for my mother, for my dad, Finnick, Prim, my illness and Peeta.

Through my giant sob fest he bravely still holds me, whispering comforts and reassurances, while Prim smooths out my deep brown hair and braids it. I turn around and ask Prim "Can you leave us alone for a second?" she nods and leaves the room. "What if I don't make it?" I ask Peeta, "You'll make it, and there are miracles everyday "he says to me, "But what if I don't? I have a 57% chance and it frightens me, I don't want to leave Prim" I whisper. He looks at me confused and I explain my father's death and my mother's reaction to it.

I then told him something I have never told anyone, "When my mother went work crazy she basically left us so I was left to take care of Prim by myself even though Finnick is the oldest" I stopped and took a deep breath. "H-he went into the wrong crowd, he'd come home smelling like alcohol and smoke, and he'd be drunk, swearing and shouting at us" I said. "One night he came home exactly like that and my mother was at work, I made Prim go upstairs and then tried to get the bottle off him". "He then shouted at me and we fought, then unbelievably he took a swing at me, but being drunk his movements were clumsier and I easily ducked out of the way" I said sadly.

"But then he got angry and pushed me over and I fell onto the glass table, my hands bleeding badly". "He then kind of snapped out of it but before he could do anything my mother came home and put him in his place" I said to him. "And ever since then he's been very protective of me and Prim but I never let him do something like what you saw in the hallway".

"I was so disappointed in him, he left us- they both did my mother for work and my brother for drugs, smoking and alcohol". I sighed then continued. "So I had to take care of Prim until my mother finally accepted everything and Finnick was taken to a rehab centre to help with his problem" I finished and let out a long breath of air, some weight being lifted off my chest.

"Katniss, you've been through so much- but don't be afraid to cry" he said, a few stray tears leaking out of my eyes. Peeta then carefully brushed the tears away with his thumb, and I looked into his amazingly cerulean eyes, and he looked into mine. His head moved towards mine and I lifted my head up, our faces inched closer-"Hey! Stop kissing! I'm coming in!" Prim shouted and we quickly broke away from each other and I scrambled away from him.

Prim then opened the door and when she looked at us, the relief on her face was evident, "Phew! Good you weren't kissing because I saw Finnick coming down the hall, and you know what he would do if he saw you" she said to me. I nodded, then turned to Peeta and opened my mouth to explain when Finnick came into the room a frown forming on his face. "You should be resting before your operation" he said angrily unsuccessfully trying to keep his cool. I looked at his face then finally snapped, "NO! I have done so many things to make you happy, so it feels like you were there for us and always protected us when mum was out! But that's not true! You left us! All alone! I had to take care of Prim and pay the bills, forging mum's signature for school excursions and notes! YOU LEFT US!" I screamed at him, and his faced turned to one of guilt but I kept going.

"Do you remember when we got into a fight and you pushed me into that table and just stood there while I was in pain and bleeding? DO YOU?" It may be some crazy medicine that they gave me but I felt so angry that I needed to throw something at him.

I grabbed the first hard thing I could find and hurled it at Finnick, a water bottle hitting him in the chest and spraying his body with water. "Katniss calm dow-" Finnick started but before he could finish his sentence, I launched myself at him and pushed his body against the wall and held him there. He struggled a little but gave up wither because he was so tired or he didn't want to hurt me further.

I leaned closer to his face and looked him in the eye whispering angrily "You left us…" I then let him go and stumbled back to my bed suddenly very dizzy and exhausted from the fight. I sat down on my bed and looked at me feet, I heard Finnick take a step towards me and I looked up but Peeta was already there, even with his loss of limb he still looked intimidating. "I think it's best if you leave" Peeta saw in a low but calm voice and Finnick left reluctantly saying he was going to find mum. "Thankyou" I whispered to Peeta, my eyes getting heavier and heavier. I heard him say something back but I was too far gone to even hear what he said.

**A/N: Another fight! I kind of based the fight scene a little on The Hunger Games when Katniss pushed Peeta into the wall but swapped it around. But it's ok Finnick will be nicer later :) Also I anyone wants to do you think I should put Gale in? I'm not sure... **

**Next will be surgery and maybe chemo I think :D I'm excited! :D**

**Thankyou Please Review and Fav/Follow I really appreciate it and it keeps me updating faster :D**


	9. Chapter 9- Forgiveness

Follow Your Veins-Chapter 9

**Hi everyone! Sorry it took ages to write we had alot of stupid test these weeks that don't even count to our grades! (boo) So sorry about that, but here is chapter 9 but don't worry its going to get very exciting!**

**Thanks **

**A/N: I don't own the Hunger Games**

**A/N2: Please Fav/Follow and review!**

"So Katniss this is how we are going to do it" Cinna said, standing at the foot of my bed. "We are going to make a large incision in your abdomen, and we are going to take out all the cancer we can find because there may be some in other places that we don't expect." He said. "And that would change the staging of the cancer, which unfortunately may change your survival rate." I looked to the side to see my mother in the chair; her head bowed not paying attention as she had probably heard all this before. "We will also take out your right ovary as that's the one with the cancer in it, and maybe the fallopian tube because there is some likelihood that there will be cancer there too". Cinna then looked at me very seriously, his brow furrowing. "Katniss this is where you will have to be brave because if there is no cancer in the other ovary, do you want us to take it out?" he said. "There could be a chance that the cancer could come back, but the frozen eggs may not work and you still may not be able to have children."

"If the chemotherapy doesn't ruin your left ovary you would be able to have children without those eggs, but it's a big risk. Take the other ovary so there is no risk of it coming back, or leave it there so possibly you could have children" He explained, looking at me intently. _What do I want? How am I supposed to choose? Do I even want children?_ My head snapped up and a made a split second decision. "Leave it there, I want the chance" I said determinedly, I don't even know if I want children but I want the chance, the tiny chance that I could have a normal life.

"Are you sure?" he asked, "I know this is a big deal, and with all the things going on your decision-making may be impaired…." Cinna said trailing off. "I'm sure" I said giving him a smile. Cinna then walked to my bed and sat down; "We will also install an IP which is a portacath, and we use this to deliver the chemotherapy and get blood easily." He said, "You will be hospitalised as an in-patient for the first two weeks of each cycle as we do not know how it will affect you because everyone is different." Cinna explained. "There are a few side effects that come with taking chemotherapy, you may not get all of them but you're bound to get at least two or three."

"We will not bore you with all the crazy chemical talk but I do have to explain the side effects; the more common ones are nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, temporary hair loss ,weight loss, Fatigue and Depression. There are also some long term and severe side effects like anemia, increased chance of infection and you can also have problems with concentration, motor functions and memory loss." He listed out to me judging my expression. "Alright…ok, um when are you going to administer the anaesthetic?" I asked wanting to have some alone time with my family. "it will automatically be put into your IV in a few minutes so you will have time to say goodbye to your family" he said and left the room. "Mum?" I asked her and her head snapped up to face mine, I guess she was surprised that I called her that. "What is it sweetie?" she asked her expression softening, "What if I don't make it?" I ask her. "You will ma-"she started but I interrupted her. "What if I don't? What will you do then? You can't zone out again" I said. "Not like when dad died" I told her, she nodded and whispered "I won't". "You can't, you can't leave her, Finnick's just like you he left us too and she can't be alone again" I said to her. My mother then thought for a moment, then replied "I promise Katniss, I will not leave her, but I won't give up on you either" she said.

I quickly hugged Prim and my mother, as I would probably go a little crazy with the anaesthetic they're about to give me. "Bye Prim, I love you and I'll see you after" I said to her, kissing her on the forehead. "Bye mum" I said to her as they walked out the door, my head dropped down and hoped that I would make it through the operation. I heard a beeping sound coming from the IV stand but then looked up to see Finnick leaning against the door frame, guilt plain on his face. "Finnick? What are you doing here?" I asked timidly as I didn't want to make him angry again. He then walked slowly towards the bed, tears welling up in his eyes and then rolling down his face.

"Oh…Katniss, I am so sorry" he apologised to me, "All the things you said were 100% true and I will spend my life trying to make it up to you". I hesitated then gave him an answer, "I…I don't fully forgive you but there is one thing you have to do" I said. "If I don't make it, you cannot leave Prim or mum." "I told this to mum and I will ask you to please to the same, do not leave her, whatever you do she cannot be alone again." I said to Finnick.

He nodded then sat down on the bed and gave me a soft but loving hug. I looked up at the ceiling and saw the lights flashing and I reached up to grab them. "Katniss what are you doing?" Finnick asked me pulling out of the hug to look at me. I giggled, "The lights are dancing!" I said to him my head still tilted to the ceiling. "Hey Katniss you stay here and I'll go get someone" Finnick said sounding concerned. "It's ok Finnick; I'm fine the lights are just showing off!" I told him giggling again, he shouldn't be so serious. He then skipped out of the room like a fairy, I flopped onto the bed still smiling,_ lights are so pushy they always want to shine brighter than their brothers_.

I heard the door open and looked towards it so see Peeta jumping towards me. "Peeta why are you jumping? Is there a party?" I asked him, laughing. "Katniss, I wasn't jumping, are you alright?" He asked me. "I'm ok, I think they are going to take out the lollies now" I told him, "What lollies?" he asked me. "The doctor said he was going to take all the lollies he could see" I said to him. Realisation then dawned on his face, "Do you know what's going on?" I asked him, happy that he understood. "Yes I get it now, I will go get the doctor to take out _all_ the lollies" he said cautiously.

"OK! Be back soon!" I shouted at him. He then jumped out of the room again like a kangaroo. Kangaroo's they are so silly they have a pouch for all their popcorn; they should just eat it out of the bowl, like humans do. The door opened again and I saw Finnick, Peeta and Cinna skipping into the room, like in the Wizard of Oz. "Why are you skipping? Is Dorothy coming?" I asked them, "Katniss its ok we are just going to give you some good medicine to help you sleep do you want that?" Cinna asked. I nodded to him and he put a candy cane into a plastic bag that was hanging from a stand. I followed the line and realised that it went into my arm. "Oh!" I said "What's this thingy?" and I pulled on the plastic line. "Katniss please don't pull out your IV" Cinna said to me. "Wha- what's….." I started but suddenly my eyes felt heavy and my head weighed more than a bowling ball. I then felt myself quickly fade into darkness.

**I hope you had as much fun reading about crazy, drugged Katniss as I did writing it. I know that's not how anesthetic works but didn't want to make it too serious or creepy. hehe**

**Thanks**

**Bmdrwho12 :)**


	10. Chapter 10- An Old Face

Follow Your Veins – Chapter 10

I wake up slowly, the drugs fading and pulling me out of my happy unconsciousness to the bright world. I open my eyes slowly and look around, the harsh lights burning into my retinas waking me up even more.

I notice that no one it is my room so I press the call button as a few moments later a blonde nurse appears, giving me a smile. "How are you doing?" she asks me, I open my mouth to respond but my throat is dry and croaky so I just shrug lightly. "Want some ice chips?" she asks and I nod eagerly wanting to feel some coolness on my tongue.

She gets a cup full of ice chips and feeds them to me like a child. "Well, my name's Madge and I will be your nurse until you've recovered from your surgery so we will be seeing a lot more of each other" she says smiling at me. "Your mother and siblings are outside but I bet your tired to I'll just tell them you're not awake yet so you have some time to sleep" Madge says. She gets up and leaves the room, closing the door behind her, I then quickly fall asleep to the soft beeping of the monitors.

I open my eyes again to see Prim and Finnick in my room, Finnick sitting on a chair to my left with Prim on his lap. "Hey" I croak out and they both lift their heads eagerly. "Katniss!" Prim shouts happily and jumps off Finnick's lap to give me a careful hug. "Hi Prim, how are you?" I ask her, "Wait, I'm supposed to ask you that!" she says still grinning.

I slowly move across the bed, ignoring the pull of the stiches and pat the bed wanting Prim to come up here with me. She smiles again brightly and slowly crawls onto the bed tucking her legs under the covers. I look up and smile and Finnick making sure he doesn't feel left out or anything. He smiles back at me and comes over to the other side of the bed and give me a hug. "Thanks" he whispers in my ear, "For what?" I ask him. "For forgiving me" he whispers back and pulls out of the hug.

"Hey! There's a TV!" Prim says and spies the remote sitting on the bedside table. She reaches over and grabs it, pressing a button and turning it on. The TV switched on and _My Sister's Keeper_ was on a channel. _How ironic, a movie about cancer in a cancer ward_, I laughed out loud and Finnick and Prim gave me strange looks.

They probably haven't seen the screen yet; I kept laughing and pointed to the TV. Prim then looks at it and taps Finnick, "Do you want me to turn it off?" she asks me and Finnick nods beside her, noticing what was on the screen.

"No it's fine, I like this movie" I say, "How can you like it? It's so sad!" Prim exclaims. "Well, it is a little but I find it interesting" I say to her. It's not just because I have cancer now, I always have found movies like this really good. "Can you please turn it up?" I ask Prim and she does settling back on the pillows, resting her head lightly on my shoulder.

We watch the movie in silence, with the occasional sniffle from Prim and as it nears the end we both end up crying. As the credits roll, I raise my head and see Finnick still watching the screen moisture absent from his eyes. "Finnick why aren't you crying?" Prim asks him. "Men don't cry it isn't manly" he says a grin on his face. Prim giggles but asks again, "Didn't you like it?". "Of course I did Prim! But as I said it isn't manly to cry in movies" he said, the smile still present on his face. "_Ok….."_ Prim drags out looking at him suspiciously but smiling anyway.

I just watch them both, savouring these moments because I will most likely feel crappy for the next 8 months and won't want to speak to anyone. I hear the door opening and look up to see Peeta walk in dressed in normal clothes, that ever-present smile on his face. "Peeta!" Prim shouts and jumps out of the bed jostling me and pulling at my stiches.

I freeze and squeeze my eyes tightly and I release a painful hiss, trying not to alert Prim of the discomfort she just caused me. I turn my head away from them and breathe through the pain, but as I try to breathe deeply, the movement causes fresh waves of agony to pass through my body.

I tilt my head down and see a little red button tucked down the side of the hospital bed, labelled 'pain pump' so I press it and hopefully it will get a little better. I then turn my head back to look at everyone and thankfully they didn't notice my little moment.

I watch Prim hug Peeta tightly and he leans back on his crutches because of the force of her hug almost pushed him over. A beep suddenly emanates from a machine near my bed and causes everyone to look at me. I decide to play dumb and look around to find the source of the noise I just caused. Prim and Finnick look for the machine that made the beep but Peeta just stares at me his face creasing into a slight frown.

He probably knows the noise from his time at the hospital and why I did it, so I slightly shake my head letting him know that he shouldn't tell them. He nods slightly back and morphs his face back into a smile as Prim turns back to him. "What was that noise?" she asks him, "It was probably just notifying a nurse to come here and check on Katniss, so we should all leave as the nurse will force us out anyway." He says and guides Prim, along with Finnick out the door but not before she gives me a wave and leaves.

The door closes and I let out a shaky breath, closing my eyes again and dropping my head back onto the pillows. The door opens again but I don't have enough energy to look like I'm alright so I just lie there, waiting for the panic and alarm. I hear loud footsteps come towards the bed and I open my eyes and see Peeta looking down at me with a concerned look on his face.

"I'm fine" I say flatly closing my eyes again feeling more and more exhausted by the minute. "_You_ are not fine, what happened there?" he asked me. "It's ok, Prim just jumped up a little too quickly and it hurt a bit" I explain, downplaying it. "No, that's not it, you don't press the pain pump for 'a bit of pain' it's for the pain where you can barely move and it rips through you like a knife" He says, an edge to his voice.

I open my eyes and look at him "Why are you angry at me?" I snap at him. Peeta covers his eyes with his face and hesitates "No I'm not- it's just- when you see someone you know in pain and they try it hide it- it's just hard to do nothing" he says. He looks into my eyes and leans down; his arms reach around my back and pull me to his chest. "I don't need a hug" I say to him, "Well maybe I do" he says.

I slowly hug him back, my arms reaching around his broad torso and squeezing him tightly. After a while he pulls back a little and a drop my arms back on the bed, and he sits down in a chair to my left. "So I talked to your mum about the chemotherapy, and apparently we have our first session together!" he says a big smile on his face. "How are you happy about chemo? It's all vomiting and depression according to Cinna" I say.

"Yeah but it makes it a little less bearable if your with someone _and _also if you react to it badly, I can help you with it" Peeta says. "Wait- wont you be sick and horrible too?" I ask him. "Nah, I've had it before, and I don't get nauseous but I usually feel quite tired and sore but generally ok" he says to me. "So then you can hold the bowl while I puke my guts out and all my hair falls out" I say to him smiling.

"Hey my hair falls out too! So stroke these luscious locks while you can, and it may change colour after it grows back" he says trying to hold in his laugh. I nod as I got another talk from my mum about when my hair grows back it could change colour. He then purposely shakes his blond curls back and forth like in those cheesy movies. I laugh softly and then reach up and grab one of his 'locks' as he put it. His head snaps up, surprized and he stares back at me curiously. "What are you doing?" he asks me softly. My eyes widen as I realise what I was doing, so I quickly scramble for an answer in my increasingly drug-induced brain. "I-uh want to see what your hair feels like before it's all gone" I say lamely. I realise that I am still holding his hair and drop my hands to my lap, a blush rising in my cheeks. "Sorry" I whisper, and slowly leaned back on the pillows.

"It's ok, I don't mind if you wanted to feel my hair it's totally understandable since it's so beautiful" he says proudly, flashing me a grin. I try to supress a laugh but eventually give up, my shoulders shaking. "Well I hope my hair doesn't change, I like brown" I say, pulling at the end of my braid and examining it. "_Ugh_ Katniss don't you see! It's not _just _brown, it's a mix of chestnut and a dark mahogany" he said looking at it finely.

"How do you know about colours?" I ask him, curious. "Well- don't tease me ok?" he asks nervously. "Fine I promise" I answer, "Well I love to paint" he says smiling softly. "Paint? Wow that's unexpected." I say "Yeah before all this I helped my family with the bakery and I decorated all the cakes but then I was too weak to do much in the shop and now I can't stand for a while because of the leg" he said to me, his tone dropping sadly at the end. "Well maybe after the first cycle of chemo you could teach me how to bake!" I said trying to cheer him up. "Really?" he said excitedly. "Yeah but to warn you I cannot cook, just ask Prim" I answered, laughing.

"Well, I think I have to change that" he said, suddenly a beep emitted from his watch. "Oops time's up, I was only allowed out for 15 minutes so I better get home" he said disappointedly. "Ok, well I'll see you tomorrow?" I ask him. "Yep, maybe you can come to my room next time" he says, "See you Peeta" I say smiling at him. He leans down and hugs me; I return it and close my eyes against his shoulder.

I take a deep breath in, smelling him, which is probably quite weird. "You smell like bread" I say, he pulls back to look me in the face. "Really? I thought the hospital washed all personal attributes away" he said surprised. "Yeah or the drugs they are giving me are making me hallucinate, but I don't think so since you're not skipping or anything" I reply. He bursts out laughing, "I remember that!". He continues laughing and then another beep comes from his watch, "Fine I get it! Time to go!" he shouts at it. He grabs his crutches and hobbles out of the room, "Bye Katniss" he says, "Bye Peeta" I say back to him. He forgets to close the door and slowly makes his way out, I sigh because I don't want people looking in my room.

I then hear a scuffle and shouting coming from outside, I listen carefully and then try and get up but I realised I'm tethered to the bed because of my IV pole. I carefully get out of the other side of the bed and grab the IV pole, using it as a walking stick to get out. It rolls with me slowly to the door, and I'm not feeling any pain because of the drugs, which is very good otherwise I wouldn't be able to even get out of bed. I poke my head out of the door and look to see Peeta glaring at someone whose back is to me.

I hobble out of the room and Peeta drops his glare when he sees me, "What the hell is going on?" I shout at them. The person with his back to me turns around and I see a familiar face. "Gale?" I ask him curiously, now clinging to the IV stand to keep me upright. "Hey Catnip" he says softly smiling at me. I frown at him, "When did you get back?" I ask him, "Yesterday" he answered, and "I went to your house but your mother and Prim said you were at the hospital for some reason" he says.

_"Bye Gale, I wish you didn't have to leave" I say to him. "Me too but mum got a job up in Brisbane for Captiol Products that medical branch" he explained. "But we are only staying there for two years' Gale says. I hear a horn beep and turn to see Hazel, Gale's mother ready and packed in the car with his siblings. "Bye Gale, have fun and don't forget to email!" I say to him smiling. "Bye Catnip, see you" he said giving me a hug and running to the car. I waved at him as the car dove off down the road._

"Well, bye see you later" I say shutting him out. I turn slowly away from him and walk slowly back to my room. Each step I took brought a wave of pain through me so I breathed in deeply through my nose and bit my lip, fighting back a yelp. I was at my door now and grabbed the handle and pushing it down, then suddenly my legs collapsed beneath me and I landed on the cool tiled floor.

I bit back a painful scream as the fall brought never ending waves of agony down on me. I could hear people shouting for a doctor but the pain just blocked it all out. "What's wrong with her?" I hear Gale ask, and feel a hand near my hip, I scream and shut my eyes tightly, my hands moving to protect my stiches. "Don't touch her!" I hear Peeta shout at him and the painful hand removes itself. "Peeta" I whisper, still not opening my eyes, "It hurts" I whimper. "_Shh,_ its ok Katniss, Cinna is coming" he says, I open my eyes and reach out and grab his hand weakly. I hear Cinna shouting at some nurses and running towards me. I close my eyes and feel a soft hand smoothing my hair, "its ok Katniss, everything will be fine" Peeta says to me. I feel a sharp pain in my arm and then everything fades slowly out of my head and weightlessness overtakes me.

**Wow that was the longest chapter I have written! Sorry for not updating sooner it's crazy busy with exams. Please review and Follow/Fav becuase they get me updating faster.**

**Please PM me if you have any questions or something to add.**

**Thanks!**

**-bmdrwho12**


	11. Chapter 11- Before the storm

Follow Your Veins- Chapter 11

**A/N : I am so very sorry for not updating in ages :( I have been quite busy with exams (stupid essays) and being sick for the past couple of months, but I'm on holidays now! (HURRAY!) So I will update quicker. :D**

**A/N 2: I don't own the Hunger Games or any of the characters in this story.**

**Please Follow/Favourite and Review! :)**

I wake up again, in the same room but a lot more machines hooked up to me, two from the catheter in my chest and another from the IV in my arm. I also had one of those weird clips on my finger for reading temperatures. I take it off but that starts a beeping from one of the machines next to me so I quickly put it back on. "Are you alright?" I hear Gale say. I snap my head around to see him sitting in a chair next to me, his eyes rimmed red.

"What are you doing here?" I ask him sharply. He doesn't seem to react and gives me an explanation, "Well, your mum was here but she had to leave for a doctor thing so she asked me to stay with you" he said. "Do you know?" I ask him, and he nods sadly. "I…I wish this hadn't happened to you" Gale says to me, and I nod in understanding as that what I felt like when my Dad got cancer. I just stay silent, keeping my head bowed to avoid conversation; things were never this awkward between us before he left. I guess time does that to you.

_I run down the street, tears streaming down my face and my hands bleeding from my fight with Finnick. I slow to a walk, clutching my red-stained hands to my chest trying to stop the sobs that threatened to take over my body. I stumble through the darkened street, the only light coming from the ominous yellowed street-lamp, flickering erratically. _

_I gradually stop walking and sit down on a damp bench; I tilt my head up and looked at the stars. I spot Orion easily, the three lined up stars of his belt. I then work my way around the sky spotting Crux –otherwise named the Southern Cross, I then find Canis Major- one of my favourites, and dad's too. This brought another wave of tears to cascade down my face, and drip onto my hands, stinging the cuts. I peer at the scratches and saw tiny pieces of glass embedded in the wound. Crap. I stand up slowly not wanting to go back home and face them._

_I hear footsteps heading my way and whip my head around, preparing to sprint away. The shape comes closer and I realise there was three of them, one boy –about my age, another one- around Prim's age and a young little girl – around four. "Hey are you alright?" the older boy asks me. "Yeah I'm fine" I say sniffing a little, "What happened to your hands?" the little girl asks me innocently. "Oh, it's nothing just a few cuts" I reply to her, smiling a little. "Hey why don't you come home with us, my mother can clean your cuts for you, besides it's not safe to be around this part of town at night" the older boy says._

_I hesitate, debating whether to go with a stranger to his house, "Hey if you're not comfortable, you can go out of the porch and my mother can come to you" he offers. I pause, "Alright, thank you" I say to him nodding. "I'm Gale, that's Rory and this little princess here is Posy" he says to me, picking her up and tickling her stomach. "I'm Katniss" I said softly, keeping my eyes on the concrete, "Catnip?" he said, "What?" I asked. "Your name is Catnip?" he asks humorously, "No! Kat-niss" I said pronouncing the syllables clearly. "Ok then Katniss follow us" he says to me. _

"_Shoulders! Shoulders!" Posy shouts, Gale then lifts her onto his shoulders and holds her little legs, while she grasps his brown hair like a horse's mane. We walk to a house, about my one's size and only a few streets away. The family walks into the house while I wait awkwardly on the porch, my hands getting worse and bleeding profusely._

_I hear footsteps and see a woman, about my mother's age, carrying a first aid kit with a smile on her face. "Hello Katniss, my name's Hazel, please sit down" the woman says, motioning to the wooden bench off to the side. "How do you know my name?" I ask after I sit down. "Gale told me, and about your hands" she said, "Yeah… I think there is some glass in it" I told her, feeling at ease. "Ouch!" she exclaimed, "How did you do that?" she asked wincing as she examined my hands. "I fell" I said lamely, not wanting to divulge in my crazy family life. _

_She seems to this as an answer and gets to work on my hands, disinfecting them, pulling little pieces of glass out while talking, explaining her family life to me. How brave her three boys have been while they are struggling for money as her husband died in a car crash around the same time mine did. This brought tears to my eyes, and Hazel gave me a questioning look so I explain my situation, with her family spying on us in the background._

I only found out about it a few months later, when Gale and I had been friends for a while, and he said he understood. I guess that's why we became friends. We both lost someone close to us and had to take care of our families because of it.

"Remember when we used to play Laser Tag every Saturday?" Gale says and my head snaps up, bringing me out of the flashback."Yeah… we would always be on the Green Team" I say trailing off. "The unstoppable force, the staff called us, we won every game- silently slipping around the maze, shooting people and creating plans to attack the opposite teams base" he says, lost in a memory.

I smiled sadly, knowing that I might not be able to do that any more, even if I pull through I probably won't be able to be as 'silent and unstoppable' as I used to. "Yeah that was a great year" I say to him. "What was going on out in the hall with Peeta?" I ask him suddenly. He looks at me nervously, fidgeting with the end of his shirt; it wasn't like him to be nervous.

"What?!" I question him sharply, "I just thought that you would still trust me enough to call or even email me about your new boyfriend" he added. "Boyfriend?! You mean Peeta? No way! We are just friends" I said to him, "And what does it matter to you?" I ask him. "It's none of your business, and why would you even care?" I tell him angrily. Gale is silent for a few moments, "Because…..because then I wouldn't be able to tell you how I feel about you" he says softly. _Wait…what! _"Katniss, I have liked you ever since we met" he continues, not looking at me.

"Uh….." I reply feeling very, very confused. I don't even know how I feel about him, and have never looked at him romantically at all. Then suddenly he stands up, rushing to my bed and tilting my head up to look at him. My heart beats erratically as he inches closer, he is just about to kiss me until I bring my hands up and push him backwards. "What the hell Katniss!" Gale shouts at me angrily, "I don't like you in that way Gale! And I have never felt that way about you…. I'm sorry" I tell him, feeling horrible.

"You know what! I pined after you for years, hoping that you felt the same way too, but I guess your feelings have already been taken by stumpy" he shouts. _Stumpy….. He means Peeta... _"Stumpy! Gale! He has cancer too you know! I thought you were kind! And my feelings haven't been _taken_ by anyone!" I shout, the words spilling out of my mouth. "Get out." I say sharply, "What?" Gale says. "Get out! I never want to see you again!" I shout at him.

He quickly stumbles out of the room, slamming the door. I sigh loudly, holding my head in my hands, I hear the door creek open so I quickly shout "Gale, go away! I swear if you come back in I will stab you will my IV!". I look up to see Cinna, outside the door, his hands up. "I'm not Gale, so can I not get stabbed" he says smiling. I smile back and him and nod so he walks in, sitting in the abandoned chair.

"Well Katniss, the fainting and extreme pain yesterday was because of medicine that was given to you" he says. I look at him, confused. "One of the nurses – a horrible one- accidentally put the wrong painkiller into your IV, the one that you are allergic to, so you had a reaction." He explains, "This nurse has been severely punished and will never do any IV related things again" Cinna says. I laugh loudly, "Well that's good" I say. "Now, your chemotherapy appointment is tomorrow, so someone will come and wheel you to the chemotherapy room" he says. "Can't I have it alone?" I ask, "I don't want people watching me vomit". "Sorry, hospital rules I know, I don't understand it either, all of the Capitol Hospitals have weird rules" he explains. "But at least you hang with Peeta while you vomit" he says teasingly. "Ugh! Gross, it's bad enough puking in front of my family, now it has to be him!" I exclaim. "Oohh! Does someone have a crush?" he questions. "What! No! I don't like him!" I say quickly. "If you say so…." He says teasingly. "He doesn't like me anyway, and I _bet_ he has a girlfriend" I say to Cinna. "I wouldn't be so sure on both counts" he says mysteriously. I groan, and throw my head back against the pillow and close my eyes. "I don't like anyone! Not Peeta! Not Gale!" I shout half-heartedly, quickly getting tired. I hear Cinna say something like 'are you sure about that' but I ignore him and fall asleep.

"Katniss!" I hear someone shout, this noise quickly brings me out of sleep, snapping me awake. I open my eyes to see Prim running to the bed and beaming at me. "Hey Prim" I say softly, smiling at her. She gives me a gentle hug then turns back motioning for Finnick to come in. "We only have a few minutes" she says sadly, _oh yeah, chemo._ I nod and push myself into a sitting position, we talk for a while, I tell Finnick to chase Gale away if he comes back and he nods happily. Finnick never really liked Gale.

I hear a knock on the door and see a nurse with a wheelchair, ready to take me to chemo. My face falls and I start to get nervous, my breathing getting quicker and quicker. I feel a hand on my shoulder and see Finnick; he then pulls me into a hug with Prim. "You'll be okay" he whispers in my ear and gives me a kiss on the head. We say our goodbyes and I get into the wheelchair, as the nurse pushes me out of the room; I look back to see Finnick and Prim, him comforting her as she sobs quietly.

The nervousness builds as we get closer, settling on my chest and crushing me. The nurse seems to notice and stops just before going in, "Are you alright?" she asks and I look up to see it's Madge, the nice nurse.

I shake my head slowly, trying to force air into my lungs. "I'm scared, I don't want to do this" I say just wanting to leave. "You have to, but you won't be alone, you have friends and family to help you through this "she says pulling me into a hug. "Okay, I'm ready" I say and hold my head high as she wheels me in.

**A/N **

**DUN DUN DUN! The next chapter will be the chemotherapy! How exciting! I have been waiting for you my precious... *Gollum voice***

**I know Gale is very OOC but without the Capitol to fuel his hatred, I didn't see why I should make him really sharp and detached. He is still a bit like that but he's more upfront. **

**Again I am very sorry for updating late :( **

**Please follow and review :D**

**bmdrwho12**


	12. Chapter 12- It's Time

Follow Your Veins – Chapter 12

**I am so terribly sorry for not updating in the last few months! This has been a crazy year but now it's all sorted out, I've been diagnosed and exams are almost done! Hurray! I have had some terrible writes block for this chapter but listening to copious amounts of Florence + the machine, Bastille and Birdy got me through :)**

**I don't own anything!**

Madge wheels me into the chemo ward slowly, if she went any slower I would probably think she was doing it on purpose. I look around at the people in the room, there aren't many, some kids sitting in recliners, their faces screwed up in pain and some just lying in beds; too weak and tired to move. The nurse steers me to a bed on the other side of the room and helps me get up on it, I usually wouldn't like anyone helping me do things but I really cant do these things myself now.

I lie down on the bed obediently and Madge tells me she'll be back in a minute with the chemo nurse person and my mother. I look around for something to distract me, to my left there is a curtain pulled around a bed, so I can't see the occupant. To my right is a wall, so I decide to look up, following the metal lines that hold the curtains, they kind of look like veins, swirling around the beds the thin metal lines protecting the user in fabric.

Oh god! I was never this mushy or poetic before the cancer, or it could just be some drugs that are still in my system. I close my eyes and focus on my breathing, trying to keep calm. Suddenly I hear the _whoosh_ of a curtain and peak open one eye to see Peeta poking his head around it. "Hey" I say to him, "Hey, fancy seeing you here!" he jokes, laughing to himself. "How's it going?" I ask, "Good, you know just fighting cancer and all" he says smiling brightly. "How far are you?" I ask, "Oh I just started, and feeling peachy!". I examine his face for signs that the chemo is affecting him, his eyes have dimmed a little and he looks quite pale, which is ok considering what other people go through. "Cool…." I say, distracted a little. "Hey, are you all right?" he asks, concern in his eyes. I take a deep breath, "Yeah I'm all right just a little nervous" I say. "That's all right, I got scared too before I first had chemo" he says, "Who said I was scared, I said _nervous_". "Ok, whatever you say" he said laughing a bit.

"How many times have you had it?" I ask, "Twice, once when I was 15, then chemo knocked it back, and I was in remission for about a year until my leg started aching again." He paused for a moment then continued, "They decided to take the leg, then get rid of the rest of the cells with some chemo." He explained, "Right….so they think you'll be okay?" I asked. "Yeah, and I know that I'll be okay" he said, a lump formed in my throat at the uncertainty of my life, but I swallowed a few times and it went away for the time being. "That's good…." I say, trailing off and looking down at the bed. "Hey, it's okay, you'll pull through, you're strong" he says to me. "Yeah, I'll totally pull through with a 50% 1 year survival rate and crap organs" I say sarcastically, turning away to the other side of the bed slowly and lying down. I glare at the wall, fuming, I guess the thought of other people talking about their survival angers me.

"You _will_ be fine" Peeta says laying a hand on my shoulder, "How do you know? My mum doesn't say anything, let alone talk to me about getting through this!" I exclaim angrily. I turn over and glare at him, "Yeah that is true, but I know that you wont give up, Prim needs you still and you would never leave her". How is it that a person that I have only known for about a week, knows what I am thinking and gets me to open up easily? Fragile emotional state? Crazy medicine? Or some weird romantic connection? Rational Katniss would probably go with the first two, but when I think about it I'm not so sure. The latter seems possible too, I haven't felt like this with Gale or any other non-existent boy; so what does that mean? I am startled from my thoughts by shouting coming from across the room.

"I really do not care if I still have to be here for 10 minuets, it's my body and I make my own bloody decisions! If I want to leave, I should be able to! Capitol hospitals suck!" I hear a girl about my age shout, she then stalks across the room, heading this way. The girl plops down in a chair next to Peeta's bed, "Hey Leg, who's the new meat?" She asks him glancing my way.

"Hey Johanna, this is Katniss" he says motioning to me; Johanna turns her gaze to me, glaring. I glare back at her, finding her attitude a bit unnerving but she stops, her lips turning up to an easy smile, seemingly to have approved of me. "Johanna, neuroblastoma" she says holding out her hand. " Katniss, ovarian" I say shaking her hand, "Oh a rarity, haven't seen any of those in a while" she says to us. "Right" I answer, but my attention is directed away to my mother carrying a box with another nurse in tow.

I gulp trying to swallow my nervousness and look down, "Hey, first time?" Johanna asks, her voice softening. I take a deep breath "Yeah…", "It will be alright, you have Peety-boy to distract you, and we both know his body can distract anything" She winks, I laugh with her despite my nervousness.

"What?" Peeta asks, we both just keep laughing at him, "What!?" he questions. Johanna and I just laugh hysterically, but I stop after while when I feel the sharp pain of my stiches, reminding me to take it easy. "Alright Johanna, time to go and get some rest" my mother says gently. "Fine, see ya round" Johanna say to us and walks out of the room.

"Well Katniss, it's time to get started" my mother says to me. I just nod as she puts the box on an IV stand and inserts a needle into my catheter, "Alright, take these pills for nausea and hopefully you wont vomit and hurt your stomach," she says to me and hands me two pills. I quickly toss them into my mouth and grab the water that she hands me, swallowing the medicine quickly. I watch as she hooks up the IV to the medicine and fluid starts flying down the clear tube and into my arm. "I'll come back to check on you soon" she says walking quickly out of the room without any explanation.

I sigh and leaning my head back on a pillow, I look sideways at Peeta, who is watching me with mixed eyes. "I'm sorry" we both say at the same time, and we both laugh at the coincidence. " I am sorry, I overreacted I guess I am a little edgy right now," I apologize to him. "That's ok, I shouldn't have said that" Peeta says, smiling at me a little. "Are we good now?" I ask, "Yeah, we're good" he says to me.

I suddenly feel strange, like I'm being invaded, along with a creeping sense of nausea. My smile fades and I look at the IV bag to see that it's a quarter way through, "I think it's working" I say to Peeta, I feel him grab my hand, squeezing it tightly. "What are you doing?" I ask him, he give me a small smile "Helping you through this" he answers. "Okay" I say, "you'll allow it?" he asks, I smile at him "I'll allow it".

**I am also sorry that it is so short but I will update very soon! I promise!**

**Anyone read tfios (The Fault In OUr Stars) it's my all time favourite book, and they have started filming the movie! (If you haven't read it please read it!) I have taken a lot of ****inspiration from The Fault in our stars and My sister Keeper as you may have noticed (possibly) but I'm not trying to copy them, just so you know :)**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Please review/follow :D**


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